I often buy ingrdients to try in a recipe and use only a little of the bottle, saving the rest for later. I have this bottle of "Firey Louisiana Hot Sauce" that I bought long ago - about 10 years ago, I guess, used a little of, didn't refrigerate, and hadn't thought of until coming across an interesting recipe today. Is it bad? Even if it won't make me sick, has it lost its potency/flavor or has being closed tightly preserved that even after so long?

In my experience, hot sauce doesn't go rancid and doesn't lose its heat, but it does lose its flavor. For some of the potent watery-consistency ones like Tabasco this wouldn't be much of a concern, but for the more saucelike ones like Sriracha (aka rooster sauce), they lose some of their color and the other-than-burny flavors. Also the condensation from the fridge tends to thin them out.

Crap. I bought some Habenero sauces when I was in Mexico about ten years ago. When I used the green sauce my dogs would not come within 2 feet of a chili bowl. Last year I threw them out because I had them so long.

I have a fair size collection of hot sauces, collected over the years. I've found that they tend to seperate, as well as lose their distinct flavors. Past about 3 years, chuck it and buy a fresh bottle. Of course, if you can't use up a bottle in three years, you ain't tryin'!

I've found that hot sauces, over time, do in fact lose heat. They just don't seem to pack the same punch. At any rate, they are chock full of preservatives. I don't think I've ingested a hot sauce that was ten years old, but I doubt it would make you sick. It may be so bland, however, that it wouldn't be worth eating anyway.

IME, if a bottle of Tabasco has been in the fridge for so long that it's gone from the original bright red that matches the bottle cap to a pale tan, it's pretty bland. Between the vinegar and salt, there's really not much worry about spoilage.

Something like chili oil, OTOH, can last a long time in the fridge and not lose a significant level of kick. The oil can go rancid if it's left in a warm area for a long time, but against the capsaicin, it might be difficult to tell.

IME, if a bottle of Tabasco has been in the fridge for so long that it's gone from the original bright red that matches the bottle cap to a pale tan, it's pretty bland. Between the vinegar and salt, there's really not much worry about spoilage.

I've noticed that Tabasco turns to tan or brown after about a year, even it it's unopened and kept out of the light, but IME, refrigerating Tabasco ruins it almost immediately. I'm not sure why, but I consume a lot of Tabasco and a bottle accidentally got put in the fridge and it never tasted right again.

May I interrupt with a question from the Great White North? what do you folks use hot sauce for? as a condiment? The only thing I use it for is as an ingredient in certain recipes, bloody marys, and so on. But never straight from the bottle onto food - is that common down south?

May I interrupt with a question from the Great White North? what do you folks use hot sauce for? as a condiment? The only thing I use it for is as an ingredient in certain recipes, bloody marys, and so on. But never straight from the bottle onto food - is that common down south?

May I interrupt with a question from the Great White North? what do you folks use hot sauce for? as a condiment? The only thing I use it for is as an ingredient in certain recipes, bloody marys, and so on. But never straight from the bottle onto food - is that common down south?

In Lousiana (where I'm originally from), it's always on the table like ketchup and gets use about as liberally. It's common to use on eggs in the morning, for instance. I still keep a few varieties of hot sauce on hand and put them on practically anything.

(Here in Seattle, they don't believe in hot sauce. Even the "habanero" sauce at one fine Mexican dining establishment was what I'd call 'medium', not 'shitfire'. But then, I'm SE Asian + Texas raised)

I blame the incident of the mold on a suspicious fridge that has since been liberally scrubbed with Clorox.

Back to the questions that have been asked -- I've always kept my condiments in the fridge as my mother does. And when eating home food (read: Asian), the hot sauce gets sprinkled on top or globbed onto the side to dip forkfuls into.

May I interrupt with a question from the Great White North? what do you folks use hot sauce for? as a condiment? The only thing I use it for is as an ingredient in certain recipes, bloody marys, and so on. But never straight from the bottle onto food - is that common down south?

Crystal Sauce gets shaken on crackers for a snack. Pickapeppa gets poured on cream cheese as a dip. Death Sauce gets slathered on meats. There is a sauce for every mood. Everything goes better with capsaicin.

May I interrupt with a question from the Great White North? what do you folks use hot sauce for? as a condiment? The only thing I use it for is as an ingredient in certain recipes, bloody marys, and so on. But never straight from the bottle onto food - is that common down south?

It's not even just a "South" thing. Around here, lots of ethnic restaurants will have an array of heat on the table - different flavors of Tabasco, Crystal, Cholula, chili oil, Sriracha, home-made salsas, etc. (We have a lot of eths, and it seems like most of them like it hot!)

If you've grown up with it, or if you become addicted to to later in life, it starts to seem like food doesn't have any taste if it doesn't have some kind of heat.

I was thinking this same thought the other day. I'm wondering if I've ruined my tastebuds for good.

Case in point:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Northern Piper

May I interrupt with a question from the Great White North? what do you folks use hot sauce for? as a condiment? The only thing I use it for is as an ingredient in certain recipes, bloody marys, and so on. But never straight from the bottle onto food - is that common down south?

My mom got mad at me at dinner tonight because I took the inside cap out of the garlic habanero sauce at the restaurant. In other words, yes.

I love anything hot. It's hard because people think you're a wanker when you say that, but years of living in a Vietnamese household pretty much iron-plated my tastebuds. I don't do the macho stuff some SE Asian guys do (ostentatiously eating whole extra hot chillies) but I've been known to take a small swig of Tabasco while I'm cooking - just for the pleasure of the taste. Tabasco has a lovely and unique flavour, but it ain't hot. I use Sriracha for most stuff because it has a unique ability to blend well in both Asian and Western food (I use it in Italian cooking), but that's not 'hot' either. If I need more heat, I'll just add finely sliced fresh chilli to the mix of whatever it is.

May I interrupt with a question from the Great White North? what do you folks use hot sauce for? as a condiment? The only thing I use it for is as an ingredient in certain recipes, bloody marys, and so on. But never straight from the bottle onto food - is that common down south?

Generally, yeah, it's a sort of all-purpose condiment.

I've eaten it on the usual Cajun/Creole dishes, some Mexican food (tacos primarily), and with some Asian dishes.

Beyond the places you'd expect it to be eaten, I frequently eat it on:

The USA has vastly, vastly more choices and variety of hot sauces than Mexico ever has. And we probably have more of a hot sauce culture than Mexico does. If you want to talk about fresh salsas, though, well, that's a different thing.

Anyway, I'm from the north. If there's no fresh salsa available, I'll use hot sauce on most anything that needs seasoning. Of course that's a habit I picked up when I was in the military where (a) nothing's seasoned, and (b) there's lot more southern culture than northern culture in the military.

I had an encounter with a bottle of funny tasting Tabasco that had gone a real funny orange brown color that caused massive evacuations of all digestive systems about an hour after eating it, but that could have been the double bacon pizza too.

May I interrupt with a question from the Great White North? what do you folks use hot sauce for? as a condiment? The only thing I use it for is as an ingredient in certain recipes, bloody marys, and so on. But never straight from the bottle onto food - is that common down south?

In Louisiana, it goes on EVERYTHING! In the recipe and then again at the table.

Crap. I bought some Habenero sauces when I was in Mexico about ten years ago. When I used the green sauce my dogs would not come within 2 feet of a chili bowl. Last year I threw them out because I had them so long.

May I interrupt with a question from the Great White North? what do you folks use hot sauce for? as a condiment? The only thing I use it for is as an ingredient in certain recipes, bloody marys, and so on. But never straight from the bottle onto food - is that common down south?

Hm. From the north, eh? Well, do you use butter? I guess it's sorta like how you guys use butter, and everything tastes like butter.

Personally, I'd rather have a different hot sauce on each of my foods than butter on all my foods.

I met this one guy from the north who would put butter on his hamburger. I couldn't believe it. I would put hot sauce on my burger, though.